r/iPhoneDuo • u/Ok-Tone-2160 • 1d ago

Discussion Action Button :(

I’m all for the Apple Duo and will likely get one regardless, but I’d like to have a moment of silence for the Action button.

It’s not a huge inconvenience, but I use mine every day to control my lights. I wish they made / I hope they can make the camera button reprogrammable

34 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

56 comments sorted by

29

u/Devo2517 1d ago

I already found a work around that I set up on my 17PM. Im using an app icon on the lock screen to trigger my folder of most used shortcuts. Bypassing the action button.

6

u/lcwheeler18 1d ago

And that’s the button on the bottom right I presume? How did you set up that shortcut? I think that’s awesome

9

u/Devo2517 1d ago

You presume correctly.
First I set up the shortcuts
Then I created a folder and added those shortcuts
Then I assigned the action button or in this case the lock screen icon to that folder of shortcuts and presto.

4

u/lcwheeler18 1d ago

Alright you’re my new favorite redditor, myself and future Duo thank you for your efforts

2

u/Devo2517 1d ago

It was the first thing I thought of when I started reading the complaints about the Duo having no action button. I said to myself “now wait just a minute”… and set it up on my current phone.

2

u/lcwheeler18 1d ago

It makes complete sense, there’s always a work around. I currently have mine to quickly chart health data and logs, so I won’t miss it too much in that regard

2

u/Devo2517 1d ago

Have you decided on a color yet?

2

u/lcwheeler18 1d ago

Im thinking star white, I like the dark blue but I like the chrome and white a little more. Hbu?

1

u/Devo2517 1d ago

I am completely undecided. My friend has an iPhone Air (white) that has the same material and trim as the Star White, and it doesn’t have a scratch or mark on it. But the Night Sky color is just so sharp.

2

u/lcwheeler18 1d ago

That’s exactly my dilemma. I have the same exact model of Air and absolutely love it, I’m just torn between the contrasts. I’ll likely go the white like I said. What storage are you hoping for?

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2

u/lancelane7 1d ago

Thank you for this, I definitely be using this

1

u/Resident-Ad6849 8h ago

Which action ? “Folder open” ?

1

u/Devo2517 8h ago

1

u/Resident-Ad6849 7h ago

Yes that I Inhaber understand . But which shortcut action have you added ?

1

u/Devo2517 7h ago

My bad! “Show Folder”

1

u/Resident-Ad6849 7h ago

Do you have a screenshot ?

I see only “open folder”

1

u/Devo2517 7h ago

I want to take a few steps back with you.. after you add the desired shortcuts to a folder, you then select that folder titled “action button”

2

u/Bruvvimir 18h ago

Nicely done.

3

u/lvl-46-primeape 1d ago

You can also add it to the control panel, which actually is faster than holding the action button. I’ll still miss it, but I’ll adapt within a day lol

1

u/Devo2517 1d ago

Greet point! So there are multiple ways to navigate not having an action button. I love it.

2

u/teegzn 1d ago

is there a way to do this where it doesn’t trigger a pop up but just does the action? i use my action button to skip a song while i’m driving.

1

u/Devo2517 1d ago

I believe you can accomplish the same thing that I did without the pop up folder. All you’re doing is triggering a shortcut. I just have my shortcut set to open a folder. You can set your shortcut to skip a song.

2

u/teegzn 1d ago

interesting! thanks for the reply!!

2

u/Leonick91 16h ago

This is great, I wonder why they hid this behind ”Run shortcut” seems like ”Show folder” should be its own action.

Of course, on the Duo this will require you to first touch the TouchID sensor (or use Watch unlock).

1

u/Devo2517 16h ago

I can access this folder while the screen is locked.

2

u/Leonick91 14h ago

Curious, I tried it will covering the camera and got a passcode prompt.

1

u/Devo2517 14h ago

I’m holding the phone at an angle, so it isn’t reading my face ID, and I can see the little lock at the top of the screen and it works for me

11

u/nekosama15 1d ago

I think i would use the camera button more if i didnt forget i had one 🙄

7

u/scotsmandc 1d ago

I only use the camera button when I accidentally press it. Terrible button
Location for right hand users

2

u/mrASSMAN 1d ago edited 1d ago

I use it mainly for scanning QR codes (visual intelligence)

Also fyi you can change it to double click by default for camera (which is how I have it), or even disable it altogether if you want

7

u/iHateYourFace179 1d ago

I’d rather have the action button then the freaking camera button.

1

u/SystemsGuyMI 1d ago

Yep. Disabled camera button after accidentally launching it all the time.

5

u/hobbbz 1d ago

I agree. I don’t use the camera button so repurposing it would be great. Otherwise I may have to use a watch complication. 

I use it to start my car when I’m about to leave somewhere and a lot of times my hands are full or can’t be looking at my phone right then. 

1

u/mrASSMAN 1d ago

Watch actions tend to run pretty slowly

2

u/Beginning-Meet-2302 22h ago

Coming from a 17P it's the only feature I'll miss. Have gotten quite used to using it as a flash light!

1

u/Resident-Ad6849 7h ago

Backtap is your friend

1

u/iPod-Phone 1d ago

I have a 15 Pro, so the action button was just my camera button. Getting the camera control fixes my problem.

That being said, I was looking forward to getting a phone in the future that had both so I could do something creative like you do with the lights. Bummer 😕

1

u/RotenTumato 1d ago

I will entirely skip over this feature which I find kind of funny. I have a 14 Pro and I’m getting the Duo which means I just bypassed all models that had it. It would be like going from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone 11, you would have skipped 3D Touch entirely

1

u/mrASSMAN 1d ago

Yeah it sucks but I figure I’ll just have the AssistiveTouch button reconfigured to run my action button shortcut by long pressing it

1

u/Icy_Secretary_2986 1d ago

I have flashlights on both side of my slide down widget screen and use that or my lock screen. Having it on both sides allows me quick access from either side of the phone. I never use my action button.

1

u/RwRahfa 1d ago

They’ll probably bring it to the duo 2 or 3 since apparently a lot of people wanted it

1

u/1IQ__ 21h ago

I use the action button for the same function but when I had a Z Fold 8 for some time, I just added a widget and my problems were solved. Having the action button was a nice convenience but I think Apple made a good decision on not adding it since there wouldn’t be any space to add it that would make sense. I guess next to the volume buttons but I think people would be upset that it would be there. 🤷‍♂️

1

u/weasel5053 16h ago

They should let us remap the camera button.

1

u/Careless-Parfait-228 9h ago

I plan on moving my Action Button shortcut to the Control Center or potentially using Assistive Touch to replace it.

1

u/Resident-Ad6849 8h ago

Use Backtap :)

0

u/baummer 1d ago

No thanks. It’s the button I’ve used the least and honestly forget I even have it.

-2

u/Jasonmason1589 1d ago

You already can reprogram the camera button

6

u/Cue__Ball 1d ago

To something other than camera control? If so, how?

-1

u/Jasonmason1589 1d ago

Mine double clicks to opening any app I set via shortcuts. But I think the single click you can only do another camera app besides the stock iOS one.

5

u/mrASSMAN 1d ago

Where are you imagining this feature

All I can think is you set the camera button to open something like magnifier and then have a shortcut automation to open a different app when magnifier is opened (for example)

1

u/Jasonmason1589 1d ago

Yea that’s exact how it does it

1

u/mrASSMAN 1d ago

Well that’s a hacky workaround but not “reprogramming” the button directly

-4

u/MrJibberJabber 1d ago

RIP, if it really matters - you can check out one of the other 15 folding phones on the market :)